Chicken in Yellow Curry with Naan

Well, the boxes have come out and we are starting to pack. I forgot how much I disliked packing :) I was spoiled this past year and a half with not having to move! Since high school I moved twice a year for 6 years, so taking a year off was really nice, but this will probably be our last move for some time (aka- 5+ years). I really look forward to being settled. I have not packed the kitchen yet, and probably won't until a couple days before we move. So, I should be still creating meals in the kitchen. Hopefully I have the energy between cleaning, packing, and moving!


Last night I made an Indian dish. It was a really delicious meal! I wasn't sure what to expect considering I have never made a real curry sauce or naan from scratch. Both, however, turned out great. The chicken itself did not take much time. The naan was a different story. Although it is a relatively easy bread, it needs 2 full risings. That makes the total time to make the bread about 2 hours (1.5 hours of waiting). Frying the dough on a frying pan, however, made the frying of the bread quicker than a traditional baking time. So I guess it's a give and a take :)


Chicken in Yellow Curry:
INGREDIENTS
1 tsp olive oil
1 c onion, diced
2.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into small pieces
1 tbsp garam masala (see my recipe below)
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 c red wine
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 c chicken broth


Garam Masala
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp bay leaves, crumbled
1/8 tsp cloves


DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat olive oil in Wok over medium heat and stir in onion. Cook onion until soft and golden brown. Remove onion from Wok.
2. Increase heat to medium-high. Season chicken with garam masala and curry powder (lightly seasoned is best!). Place chicken in Wok and brown while stirring (7 mins). Add red wine and red wine vinegar and simmer for 1 min. Stir in prepared onion and chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to medium-low and allow to simmer 10 mins.


Naan
INGREDIENTS
2 1/4 tsp yeast
1 c warm water
1/4 c sugar
3 tbsp milk
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp salt
4.5 c bread flour
2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 c melted butter


DIRECTIONS
1.     In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. Let it rise 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume.
2.     Punch down dough, and knead in garlic. Pinch off small handfuls of dough about the size of a golf ball. Roll into balls, and place on a tray. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
3.     During the second rising, preheat grill to high heat.
4.     At grill side, roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle. Lightly oil grill. Place dough on grill, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. Brush uncooked side with butter, and turn over. Brush cooked side with butter, and cook until browned, another 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from grill, and continue the process until all the naan has been prepared.

Chicken Salad Sandwich

On days I know I am going to be busy, I try to prep dinner as best as I can beforehand. Sometimes that is merely cutting the meat and veggies, or sometimes it's making a sauce. This was a great recipe to try on a busy day. The whole recipe took 10 minutes to put together once my chicken had cooked. Easy! This particular day, I was inspired by the super low-fat mayonnaise I had recently found at Winco. I usually buy lite mayo (50 calories/tbsp) which is 1/2 the calories of regular mayo. I happened to stumble upon a product called "Smart Beat" when I was picking up groceries to make a potato salad. I thought I could at least try the Smart Beat next to my lite mayo and see if I could tell a difference. They were almost identical! The best part is that Smart Beat is only 10 calories/tbsp :) This caused me to think of all the great foods I loved that are slathered in mayo. Enter Chicken Salad Sandwiches.

I made this recipe super easy. I was in a no-fuss, no-heat kind of mood and decided it would be best to make my recipe even easier than normal. I actually boiled the chicken (gasp!). I know, boiled chicken is usually rubbery and gross, but seeing as I would need to shred the chicken and then slather it in mayo I knew we wouldn't know the difference. I threw the chicken in a pot and boiled it with water for 30-35 mins. I didn't even have to attend to the chicken. Like I said, easy :) Then I just used my chop-chop (aka http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-EHC650-2-Speed-Chopper/dp/B00005MF97/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310682430&sr=8-1), and shredded my meat in it. I did the same with my celery and onion. I mixed all of it together in a large bowl with mayo, sour cream, tarragon, salt, and pepper. It was done :) I just needed to refridgerate it afterwards for 1-2 hours and then bring it out for dinner. So delicious and effortless.

INGREDIENTS
3/4 c sour cream
3/4 c mayo
1 c celery, finely chopped
1/4 c tarragon
5 c cooked chicken, cubed

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DIRECTIONS
In a medium bowl, combine sour cream, mayo, celery, and tarragon; stir in chicken. Refrigerate 2-3 hours.

Szechwan Chicken over rice

This is another spicy recipe! Since keeping this blog I have come to the realization of many things. It's funny how obvious things can be, yet you do not realize them until you write them down and see the pattern!

1. Life is busy. It doesn't matter how many recipes I make in a week, I will only find time to blog 1-3/week. I thought it was just specific circumstances that made me blog less and less, but alas that is not the case. Life doesn't slow down :)
2. Rex and I eat a lot of spicy food, which probably isn't the most universal foods I can blog about, but this is really what I cook and eat on a weekly basis.
3. I use my Wok a lot.
4. I am horrible at taking pictures (not exactly a new revelation!)

Anyways, our family has been experiencing a season of change. Since getting our puppy, we have been house-training him, dealing with the summer heat, staying involved in church, and making time to see each of our families. Well amidst all these changes, we are also moving soon. This means I need to start packing :)

Fortunately, busyness and the heat haven't prevented me from being able to cook! Those are usually 2 words that equate to not cooking, but I've made it a priority to cook and so by God's grace we have been still eating home-cooking. This has caused me, however, to focus on cooking quick meals that don't require the oven. One such meal is a family favorite. We probably eat it once every 4-6 weeks :) It's Szechwan Chicken! It cooks in about 20 minutes and is a full meal once added over rice.

INGREDIENTS
4 tbsp water
2 tbps ketchup
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp veggie oil
1/4 c green onions, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1.5 lbs chicken, diced

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a bowl, stir water, ketchup, soy sauce, cornstarch, honey, cayenne, and ginger. Set aside.
2. Fry diced chicken in Wok or large skillet in oil over high heat. Keep stirring chicken as it fries. Chicken should be white all over (6-8 mins).
3. Add green onions and garlic to chicken in Wok and cook another minute.
4. Stir in sauce and toss to coat. Allow sauce to bubble before removing from heat. Serve over warm rice.

Macaroni and Cheese

Albie and his first tennis ball

I had to add a cute puppy pic :) Albie got his first tennis ball over the holiday weekend and loves it. I would add a pic of our macaroni and cheese, but the picture didn't do it justice. Maybe next time I'll photo it with better presentation skills.

I love a good bowl of creamy macaroni and cheese. What I don't love is that most recipes require lots of cream or processed cheeses to make it the right consistency. My first 2 attempts at homestyle macaroni and cheese were mediocre. They lacked the cheesy taste and creamy texture combo I really wanted (think El Pollo Loco Mac). So, one day I finally stumbled upon a "healthier" version recipe. I glanced at the ingredients and thought it's worth a shot, but traditionally healthy and macaroni and cheese don't belong in the same sentence. Sure enough, however, it turned out creamy and cheesy without cream and overly processed cheese. I was so happy! This was my second time making it. I will post the original recipe as is, however, I will note that with the hot temperatures, I did not bake mine in the oven. I just combined my noodles and cheese sauce and called it a day :) It was still just as delicious!

INGREDIENTS

10 oz macaroni cooked al dente

1 tomato, sliced

2 c low-fat shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided

1/2 c crushed cornflakes or breadcrumbs

3 tbsp all-purpose flour

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp black pepper

2 c skim milk

2 tbsp low-fat cream cheese

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat a 9 x 9 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

2. Boil water and cook macaroni.

3. Combine flour, salt, onion powder, and black pepper in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Slowly whisk milk into the pan, add cream cheese. Whisk vigorously, until even and no lumps appear (this may take some time!). Bring to a low boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook about 4 minutes, stirring, until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and stir in cheese until melted.

4. In a bowl, combine cooked macaroni and cheese sauce. Spoon into prepared baking dish. Top with sliced tomato, shredded cheese, and cornflakes. Bake until bubbly and golden brown, about 25 minutes.